I think this one has the Toyota 1ZZ with a Yamaha-designed head. Seen numerous examples for sale with 60k-100k miles, but this is the first one I've seen for sale with over 100k.

Edit - just found a red 2005 Elise for sale with 102k miles. Decent condition, asking $26.5k. It's probably a good thing most of these are located on the west coast because otherwise I might accidentally buy one, lol.

My dad had a coworker based in Houston who daily drove an orange Elise for a while. Getting in and out is the worst part, but from what I remember it's not too bad once you're actually in the car (been a while since I've been in an Elise though). Hoping to get one in a few years once I'm done with college, as long as my knees aren't bothering me too much by then lol. An Evora is way easier to get in and out of but has other problems (like a leather dash that shrinks if you park in the sun, which attracts ants for some reason).

Probably $18k-$20k-ish, mainly due to body damage that is expensive to repair because fiberglass. Hope he posts an asking price, since it seems to be required on that forum. Elises generally seem to hover around the ~$33k mark, with high mileage common spec examples bottoming out at about $25k-$27k for acceptable condition, and lower mileage rare spec models going for $40k+.

I always wonder how dominant GM (or really any of the American automakers) would be if they had competent leadership. There are going to be tradeoffs with any car, but with GM it generally feels like the "yeah but...." is a really big yeah but. The C7 is the only exception I can think of.

With or without the GM badge engineering exercises, I might well have bought a left hand drive Holden Ute with LS3 engine, TR6060 transmission and Torsen differential, but not with the pricing inflated by the Chicken Tax import tariff.

I vaguely recall reading that somebody at GM figured out how to avoid the Chicken Tax by building knock down kits at Holden Australia and assembling those in a location exempt from the Chicken Tax. It was mentioned that the plan never went further than the PowerPoint presentations, rather was killed when GM decided to kill automobile manufacturing in Australia.

That Holden was built on GM's Zeta platform. I would have been very much more interested in a newer generation variant built on the newer and much better Alpha platform.

My thoughts are with Ryan Newman after his horrific crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500. It brought back some images of Dale Sr's untimely demise as he initially took a 90 degree right turn into the wall. While he benefits from SAFER barriers and HANS devices that Sr. did not have, he followed that by being t-boned directly in the drivers door by another car, then took flight and flipped onto his roof, crossing the finish line that way and in flames. He was descended upon very rapidly by the track medical staff, his car was righted, and he was extracted from the car. They did this with the car covered with black tarps so as to keep things as private as possible. He was taken directly to the hospital. As of this writing, no further details are known of his well being.

It is in times like these that we are reminded how violent and dangerous a sport this can be. Whatever deity you might call your own, pray for Ryan and his family. He will need it.

Just watching the video now, you know it's not good when the other drivers are that somber and serious after a race. Blaney in particular looked like he was trying to hold back tears during his interview. Definitely hoping and praying Newman recovers.

It wouldn't be a surprise if he was knocked unconscious when the car hooked into the wall. That initial slap was extremely violent. The secondary impacts would have compounded the initial concussion. When a safety crew finds an unresponsive driver the protocol goes to the highest level of emergency. Not knowing if there are head or spinal injuries they cut the car apart to extricate the driver with the least possible stress to the driver's body.

They cover the car because they don't want video of an unconscious driver (who could die or already be dead) circulating on the next news cycle. Nobody wants distant family and friends to see their loved one being removed in an unresponsive state. It isn't good for the sport either but that's secondary to the humane considerations.

View of a protected area where seals gather on the beach about 300 yards north of where we're staying.

And the view out the dining room window of our B&B in Pacific Grove

Murphy's Law... Monday night was taken over by body aches, runny nose, sore throat and today the hacking cough arrived. Zicam and Advil managed the aches and juiciness yesterday and was 8 tenths faster in practice. :-)

Today is an off day so will lay low and walk over to the Monterey Aquarium with my wife to see the sea otters, penguins, and plethora of aquatic life. It's a truly great aquarium if you haven't been.

Tomorrow we'll have a practice session, a qually session and a race. Then rinse and repeat on Friday.

Thursday - Amazing the difference changing one set of cables can make. These were Straightwires, connecting the CD player to the preamp. They might have worked in SOMEONE's system ... but sure as hell not in my friend's.

For poop and giggles, I am trying out Better Cables for my desktop system. 0.5 m run from my DAC to the headphone amp. I was using some old Monster cables and 1/2 hour in, I can definitely hear the difference, especially with vocals.